Introduction
Newport Rhode Island is a relatively small city with a small school district. Newport's school district downsized recently, all of the elementary schools were closed and combined into one large school. The Dr. M. H. Sullivan Elementary school was one of the schools that was closed. They were closed to try and save money and improve the education of students. This information explains the aspects of the elementary school before it was closed.
Academic Performance
The Dr. M. H. Sullivan School held students kindergarten through 4th grade and was closed at the end of the 2013 school year. The school had a student body of 234 students and a student teacher ratio of about 11:1. Infoworks did not have a large amount of information on this school because of the recent closing.The 2008 Info-works said the school met all 11 of its target and the school was said to have adequate performance The school's performance greatly improved from the 2006/2007 to 2008/2009 school years in math but they decreased in reading. In 06/07 70% of 5th graders were below proficient in math compared to 08/09 only 23% of 5th graders were below proficient. This is a very extreme improvement. In 06/07 16% of 3rd graders were below proficient in reading and in 08/09 31% were below proficient. The reading scores only improved for 5th graders at about 18%. These statistics are not nearly as extreme as the scores for math (Info-works, 2009). The NECAP scores for students in the 4th grade from the 2013-14 year were recorded as 63% proficient in Math, 70% proficient in reading and 41% proficient in science (“Info Works- 2013").
Demographics
Dr. M. H. Sullivan school has very interesting demographics. It was located in the north end of Newport and included 5 public housing projects within this small area(SALT, 2001). The student population was about 55% male and 45% female. The enrolled student population was very diverse, where many students came from various backgrounds and cultures. Ethnically, the largest percentage of race was Hispanic, accounting for about 29% of the students. After Hispanic, the second largest percentage was African American, about 27% of the students. Caucasians made up about 25% percent of the student body, which is the third largest percentage. The other 19% of the students that attended this school were Indian, Asian or other mixed ethnicities. These percentages support the fact that Newport is a city because there tends to be larger amount of diversity in cities .(USASchoolInfo.com, n.d.)
Special Programs/ Extracurricular
Dr. M. H. Sullivan School had many positive and negative aspects before it was closed in 2013. A positive aspect of the school was that it had a full day and half-day kindergarten with many programs for students. It had supportive reading and mathematics programs for grades 3-5. Not only that they also implemented the Child Opportunity Zone program to support families and children in the area. The school had a special education pre-kindergarten program included Head Start which was very helpful. Observers of Dr. M. H. Elementary said the staff and faculty were very student oriented and caring. In spite of the caring staff and specialized programs, many students were writing and reading below grade level. Even though it was a community-based school, it was not meeting the needs of all of the students attending. Though the teachers were caring and supportive of the different backgrounds of students they needed to instill a motivation for learning (SALT, 2001). It would be interesting to see if improvements were made by combining to a larger elementary school instead of keeping the divided smaller schools.
School Climate/ Safety
According to the students of Dr. M. H. Sullivan elementary school the school system appears to be a fairly safe environment some of the statistics were worrisome though. Students in the 4th grade and above were surveyed. Their results showed that many did live in troubled situations.The amount of 4th and 5th graders surveyed that said they smoke and drank alcohol was surprising. The numbers were less than 5% of students but no students at ages 9-11 should be exposed to alcohol or tobacco. About 20% of the students surveyed said they had not eaten fruits or vegetables in the past day and about 10-15% had only eaten breakfast two times or less that week. Over a quarter of the students said they get less than 7 hours of sleep a night. The teacher and principle attitudes were a little different than the students. The Dr. M.H. Sullivan school teachers surveyed below the state average for providing access to students and parents for health and social services. They also surveyed below for providing a health promoting environment and wellness programs. Even though they ranked below in both of these sections it was only by a very small percentage compared to the rest of the state. In the section that says Dr. M. H. Sullivan school has policies that support positive health practices etc. teachers surveyed said 100%, which is strange compared to principles surveyed who ranked that category less than the state average at about 90%. Both teachers and principles at Dr. M. H. Sullivan ranked it above the state average for providing health care and social services on site. The teacher surveys also claim that teachers were very involved and caring about their students and curriculum. Student surveys also support that the teachers are very involved. (Info-Works, 2009).
Facilities
Info-works surveyed students asking them a few questions about their school facility. In the Dr. M. H. Sullivan Elementary school students were asked if the school building classrooms were the right temperature. The majority of students who answered said sometimes (about 55.6%) comparatively about 11.1% said mostly 27.8% said never and only 5.6% said it was always the right temperature. When they were asked if there was always soap in the bathroom no one answered never. The majority, 62.5% said mostly. Comparing this to the statewide survey about 45% of students also said sometimes for the school temperature and about 50.3 said there was always soap in the bathrooms. When the students were surveyed about school resources about 94.4% said there was always enough books for every student. This is almost dead on the statewide surgery result. About 63.5% said the desks were the right size, compared to the statewide result of 69.6%. In the other two aspects of the school facility survey Dr. M. H. Sullivan school was ranked very low. 27.8% of students said their school looked nice on the inside and 36.8% said it looked nice on the outside. The statewide survey for both of hose categories rank somewhere in the 80% range. This shows the school was in need of some renovations (Info-works, 2012).
Conclusion
Overall the M.H. Sullivan Elementary school was a fairly good elementary school. Before it closed the school supported and provided for many students and teachers in the area. There were many things that needed improvement and possible school renovations. At the same time the math and reading scores were starting to improve so education was heading in the right direction. It would be interesting to see where Dr. M. H. Sullivan would be today if it had not been closed.
Newport Rhode Island is a relatively small city with a small school district. Newport's school district downsized recently, all of the elementary schools were closed and combined into one large school. The Dr. M. H. Sullivan Elementary school was one of the schools that was closed. They were closed to try and save money and improve the education of students. This information explains the aspects of the elementary school before it was closed.
Academic Performance
The Dr. M. H. Sullivan School held students kindergarten through 4th grade and was closed at the end of the 2013 school year. The school had a student body of 234 students and a student teacher ratio of about 11:1. Infoworks did not have a large amount of information on this school because of the recent closing.The 2008 Info-works said the school met all 11 of its target and the school was said to have adequate performance The school's performance greatly improved from the 2006/2007 to 2008/2009 school years in math but they decreased in reading. In 06/07 70% of 5th graders were below proficient in math compared to 08/09 only 23% of 5th graders were below proficient. This is a very extreme improvement. In 06/07 16% of 3rd graders were below proficient in reading and in 08/09 31% were below proficient. The reading scores only improved for 5th graders at about 18%. These statistics are not nearly as extreme as the scores for math (Info-works, 2009). The NECAP scores for students in the 4th grade from the 2013-14 year were recorded as 63% proficient in Math, 70% proficient in reading and 41% proficient in science (“Info Works- 2013").
Demographics
Dr. M. H. Sullivan school has very interesting demographics. It was located in the north end of Newport and included 5 public housing projects within this small area(SALT, 2001). The student population was about 55% male and 45% female. The enrolled student population was very diverse, where many students came from various backgrounds and cultures. Ethnically, the largest percentage of race was Hispanic, accounting for about 29% of the students. After Hispanic, the second largest percentage was African American, about 27% of the students. Caucasians made up about 25% percent of the student body, which is the third largest percentage. The other 19% of the students that attended this school were Indian, Asian or other mixed ethnicities. These percentages support the fact that Newport is a city because there tends to be larger amount of diversity in cities .(USASchoolInfo.com, n.d.)
Special Programs/ Extracurricular
Dr. M. H. Sullivan School had many positive and negative aspects before it was closed in 2013. A positive aspect of the school was that it had a full day and half-day kindergarten with many programs for students. It had supportive reading and mathematics programs for grades 3-5. Not only that they also implemented the Child Opportunity Zone program to support families and children in the area. The school had a special education pre-kindergarten program included Head Start which was very helpful. Observers of Dr. M. H. Elementary said the staff and faculty were very student oriented and caring. In spite of the caring staff and specialized programs, many students were writing and reading below grade level. Even though it was a community-based school, it was not meeting the needs of all of the students attending. Though the teachers were caring and supportive of the different backgrounds of students they needed to instill a motivation for learning (SALT, 2001). It would be interesting to see if improvements were made by combining to a larger elementary school instead of keeping the divided smaller schools.
School Climate/ Safety
According to the students of Dr. M. H. Sullivan elementary school the school system appears to be a fairly safe environment some of the statistics were worrisome though. Students in the 4th grade and above were surveyed. Their results showed that many did live in troubled situations.The amount of 4th and 5th graders surveyed that said they smoke and drank alcohol was surprising. The numbers were less than 5% of students but no students at ages 9-11 should be exposed to alcohol or tobacco. About 20% of the students surveyed said they had not eaten fruits or vegetables in the past day and about 10-15% had only eaten breakfast two times or less that week. Over a quarter of the students said they get less than 7 hours of sleep a night. The teacher and principle attitudes were a little different than the students. The Dr. M.H. Sullivan school teachers surveyed below the state average for providing access to students and parents for health and social services. They also surveyed below for providing a health promoting environment and wellness programs. Even though they ranked below in both of these sections it was only by a very small percentage compared to the rest of the state. In the section that says Dr. M. H. Sullivan school has policies that support positive health practices etc. teachers surveyed said 100%, which is strange compared to principles surveyed who ranked that category less than the state average at about 90%. Both teachers and principles at Dr. M. H. Sullivan ranked it above the state average for providing health care and social services on site. The teacher surveys also claim that teachers were very involved and caring about their students and curriculum. Student surveys also support that the teachers are very involved. (Info-Works, 2009).
Facilities
Info-works surveyed students asking them a few questions about their school facility. In the Dr. M. H. Sullivan Elementary school students were asked if the school building classrooms were the right temperature. The majority of students who answered said sometimes (about 55.6%) comparatively about 11.1% said mostly 27.8% said never and only 5.6% said it was always the right temperature. When they were asked if there was always soap in the bathroom no one answered never. The majority, 62.5% said mostly. Comparing this to the statewide survey about 45% of students also said sometimes for the school temperature and about 50.3 said there was always soap in the bathrooms. When the students were surveyed about school resources about 94.4% said there was always enough books for every student. This is almost dead on the statewide surgery result. About 63.5% said the desks were the right size, compared to the statewide result of 69.6%. In the other two aspects of the school facility survey Dr. M. H. Sullivan school was ranked very low. 27.8% of students said their school looked nice on the inside and 36.8% said it looked nice on the outside. The statewide survey for both of hose categories rank somewhere in the 80% range. This shows the school was in need of some renovations (Info-works, 2012).
Conclusion
Overall the M.H. Sullivan Elementary school was a fairly good elementary school. Before it closed the school supported and provided for many students and teachers in the area. There were many things that needed improvement and possible school renovations. At the same time the math and reading scores were starting to improve so education was heading in the right direction. It would be interesting to see where Dr. M. H. Sullivan would be today if it had not been closed.
Bibliography
Info Works- Rhode Island Education Data Recording. (2013, 2014). Retrieved from http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/school/dr-m-h-sullivan-school
Info Works - Rhode Island Education Data recording. (2011, 2012)
http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/files/surveyworks/2010-2011/combined/surveyworks-2010-2011-dr-m-h-sullivan-school-student-parent-teacher-es.pdf
Info Works- Rhode Island Education Data Recording. (2008, 2009) Retrieved from
http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2009/queries/FindSch.asp
SALT. (2001). Newport Public Schools. Rhode Island department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Retrieved from https://www.eride.ri.gov/salt/default.asp
USASchoolInfo.com. (n.d.). Dr. M. H. Sullivan School Newport, RI Enrollment & Demographics. Retrieved November 1, 2014, from http://www.usaschoolinfo.com/school/dr-m-h-sullivan-school-newport-rhode-island.79375/enrollment